Anthropic warns AI worms may infect smart home devices within months

The report highlights that even basic consumer devices—often made by manufacturers with weak security—could host lightweight AI models capable of spreading. Anthropic’s tests demonstrated a lightweight AI model running across 15 smart TV boxes with just 4GB of RAM each. Unlike traditional malware, AI worms could adapt to unfamiliar devices without human intervention, increasing their potential to compromise large numbers of IoT systems globally. The lab warns that while a fully autonomous replicator does not yet exist, AI agents are growing more capable of executing the necessary steps.